Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $260.00 price target on the iPhone maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AAPL. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Cfra upped their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Bank of America reissued a buy rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $239.17.

Apple Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $228.20 on Thursday. Apple has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $222.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $200.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.49, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apple

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $10,531,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Apple by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,981,808 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,160,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,807 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.